Saws that cut rock, brick and similar materials are well known in the art. Using a conveyor belt to carry the material to the blade is also well known in the art. One of the common problems with conveyor belt systems is that the conveyor carries the material to the blade at a given speed. With rock in particular, the material can have irregular shapes and varying degrees of hardness and/or thickness, resulting in a wide variation in the difficulty of cutting a given piece. It is well known in the art to control the pressure of the saw blade, so that the saw blade does not change speed as the blade encounters harder and softer substances, thereby increasing blade efficiencies and extending equipment/tooling life.
The problem presented by the prior art is that the conveyor belt continued to present the material at a given rate of speed, regardless of how hard the saw motor has to work. This increases the wear on the saw and can cause premature blade segment wear and even blade segment separation from the blade core, which is a distinct hazard. Furthermore, as the material being cut is forced upon a blade already working at maximum capacity, drive train components, and eventually the prime mover, may prematurely fail.
Another problem in rock saws is that there is a demand for “corner pieces” of facing rock to use for building faces. The corner pieces need to have an interior corner cut into the rock so that the rock can be placed on the corner of the building. At the present time these pieces need to be cut by hand using freestanding rock saws. This is time consuming, costly and can result in large amounts of spoilage while forcing the saw operator to work in close proximity to a rotating, exposed saw blade.
The present invention solves these problems by using a saw motor load sensor to control the speed of the conveyors bringing the rock to the saw blade. As the saw motor works harder to cut a given rock, the controller automatically slows the conveyor belts, reducing the load on the saw blade. If the saw blade is easily cutting a given rock and not working at optimum speed, the conveyors will be sped up, increasing production.
Also provided in an alternate embodiment is a horizontal blade that can be moved into place to cut the “bottom” of a corner piece, then the standard, vertical blade cuts the other side of the corner.
Common in all manual rock cutting operations is the need to produce a clean finished product. Manual sawing of stone produces fines, a gritty, slurry like material of rock dust and water. As the water dries from the finished product, a thin film of rock dust remains on the product changing the color of the slab. In manual operations, this slurry like material is often sprayed onto the saw operator becomes airborne as a mist. Without proper respirators this mist can expose the operator to silicosis. A water spray that both cleans the finished product and causes the mist to be directed away from the operators can be incorporated in all embodiments, potentially reducing the risk of silicosis.